Existing planers and moulders on the market use round columns to support and guide the cutterhead of the device as it is moved up or down relative to the position of the material to be planed and/or moulded. Typically four columns are used such that the columns are placed on each of the four corners of the cutting plane of the device. Some planer moulders of the prior art include: Grizzly Industrial, Inc. of Bellingham Wash. models G1017 12″ Planer, G1021 15″ Planer, G1033 20″ Planer, G3616 Milling Machine, G9732 Metal Cutting Lathe: Woodstock International Inc. of Bellingham, Wash. model W1739 Planer/Moulder; and Williams & Hussey Machine Co., Inc. of Milford, N.H. Planer/Moulder. Typically these machines comprise a platform for placement of the material to be worked serviced by a cutterhead that can be adjusted relative to these materials. The cutterhead typically rides along four cylindrical columns, placed at the perimeter of the work area, with various rods and screws, positioned generally perpendicular to the columns, used to lock the cutterhead in place. The cutting knives, within the cutterhead, can be brought and held against the material to be worked. The cylindrical columns typically are paired with cooperative mating surfaces on stops associated with the rods and screws such that when pressure is applied by the stops on the columns, the cutterhead is held at the appropriate position relative to the work table and can subsequently be adjusted up and down relative to the table as needed.
The use of rounded surfaces such as the columns, rods, screws and stops used in the above noted prior art generally provide inadequate holding power for a cutterhead system. Further, with time and usage, such systems are known to wear, causing slippage of the cutterhead relative to the table surfaces. It is known that the mating surfaces of the round columns and cooperative support casting or table eventually wear away due to the friction caused by continually adjusting and readjusting their relative positions as required by the machine's use. This causes looseness or “play” to develop in the system for which, as a result of the configurations, there is no ultimate adjustment; the machines must be overhauled with replacement of many parts. This “play” affects the locking ability, accuracy and safe operation of the machine. Further, it is costly to remedy this as replacement of the round columns and upper support casting is usually eventually necessary. Such a procedure requires replacement parts and technician time and is costly and time consuming, keeping a working machine away from work.
Generally in the past, woodworking, including planning, molding and shaping for which such devices have been used has not been exacting as the locking mechanisms used with the round column system of support are by their nature only able to apply pressure in a very small area on the columns. In some wood working machines, the clamping device and column have very little area of contact. Consequently, the actual clamping force available to secure the cutterhead assembly is small and often inadequate to the task; allowing slippage of the cutterhead assembly and consequently continual re-tightening. Such continual adjustments take away from actual work time as well. As machines wear this effect becomes progressively worse and rather than replace parts or get new machines, lesser quality work has become acceptable up to the point of the potential failure of the machines of the past. However, it is desirable, particularly with costly materials to be able to provide shaped materials of high quality, design and fit.
In some large scale metal shaping machines, due to the extreme weights developed by the working elements of those devices, columns having a rectilinear wall and a locking mechanism that apply pressure to the column vertical surface have been developed. However, such mechanisms have not been used in woodworking machines because of the significant differences in these devices, including the added weight in a metal working machine, the costs of redesigning accepted machinery and the generally diametric differences in the developments and evolution of wood and metal working machines.
Further, wood working machines of the past have also suffered in that once the cutterhead is put into position and locked into place and the subject wood is fed into the device, the user can not see the results of the work until the material emerges from the machine. If the machine is incorrectly set, or if the adjustments of the height and position have been compromised as a result of slippage, as described above, or if material chips or waste products are interdicting the cutting knives, or for other reasons, a poorly shaped piece of moulding would emerge and would comprise a lost or wasted piece of material. With the increased costs of materials such waste is unconscionable and can be the difference in a profit or loss in a project. Further, the wasting of natural resources has become disfavored, especially as conservation is now sought in projects and is popular. It would be desirable to have a means to visually check the settings of device and check if the knives or other cutting members are hindered, prior to wasting valuable materials.